Drive, He Said

Scattershot, rambling rumination of Nixon-era youthful disaffection ("The Silent Majority") is notable as Nicholson's first time behind the camera; while there is a free wheeling energy here, performances are distractingly amateurish (save Dern), apparently resulting from needing authentically fit athletic types for the main roles; it's also unclear what actual points Nicholson and his co-writers are aiming for - bizarre finale almost seems to be a 'Catch 22' nod!

Nicholson showed a lot of promise as a director here and it's a shame he didn't really pursue it too much afterward. The basketball scenes are impeccably shot. However, the story is way too scattershot and very, very 1960s. I feel the radical roommate character was way too over the top and Nicholson kind of indulged too far into that counter-culture "edginess" to the detriment of the film.

It has a lot of good ideas and Jack has clear potential as a director, but I thought the acting was poor, Bruce Dern as the coach being the only exception. I understand if Jack wanted to only be behind the camera but he would've been perfect as the Gabriel character.

Nicholson's directorial debut is not totally without merit, but it's disjointed and lacks focus and tries way too hard to address the issues of the day rather than allowing them to evolve organically from the material. Like most BBS films, it has ambition to spare, but ambition alone is not enough. What's lacking is a strong authorial hand to guide and shape the disparate elements into something memorable and significant.

Nicholson saw all these movies his cool friends were making and was like “me too!” A lot of good individual elements - performances, scenes, bits of editing, shots - that never come together into a solid or even sometimes a legible whole. Not lazy, though - Nicholson is clearly trying to say something here, and comparing college basketball and Vietnam, uh, somehow, I guess? And at its best it really does have the same live-wire feeling that he’s so well-known for as a performer.

I have wanted to see this ever since I read a "Parents" magazine review of it when I was 11, essentially saying "keep your children away from this!" It finally came to pass, and... I gotta agree with most everyone else: there are some great moments--due to good actors, well directed--but it is nearly incoherent as an overall narrative. Near as I can tell it has something to do with authority and rebellion and how different people handle it. P.S. Oregon does not look the LEAST bit like Ohio.

An uneven movie. The part about Hector is an engaging story about a guy in search of himself, but the parts about Gabriel feels over the top and forced. Also there is little connections between the two plot lines, except the two being roommates. Nicholson shows talent for directing, especially the basketball scenes are well shot and edited. William Teppert who plays Hector has a good screen presence, but his line delivery unfortunately is very wooden. Bruce Dern does give a good performance

A jumbled disjointed mess... with some great basketball scenes

A curious little film that hits on a lot of interesting ideas, only to end up in over its head. It's vague and shoddy, unorganized and a little confusing. Still, you can tell it was made with respectable fervor and intent, and there are a few moments when it touches on something great.

O Amanhã Chega Cedo Demais estreava há 50 anos em New York. Não sei até que ponto é viável retratar a contracultura com um personagem psicótico, mas enfim, sabendo que o Nicholson ama basquete nada mais justo seu primeiro longo tê-lo como pano defundo. BlurayRip Criterion GCJM.

A cynical, disjointed curio of the post-hippie years, textbook BBS. Amusing throughout, worth watching for its rarity (40 years unavailable!) and pedigree (Nicholson, Black, Dern) alone, but its subject matter is on the whole familiar. As a director Nicholson owes a great debt to Altman especially with regards to sound design, but certainly shows promise of his own.

An interesting enough film that descends into a garbled mess of ideas in the last act.

The general mood of this film is something I like, but something is off here. Not bad but disappointing.

Marrying Altman and Nichols in style, Nicholson himself is a remarkably memorable actor, and he leads his actors into truly rarefied realism and intensity revolving around a campus as model of the era's dueling psychological states, paranoia and neurotic competitiveness. Even the love interest seeks to lay claim to a personality of her own.